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BOSTON (05/23/2000) - Intel Corp. announced yesterday that it would invests billions of dollars over the next two years to help meet the demand for flash chips in wireless communications. Personal computer manufacturer Fujitsu is following close behind with a new flash facility just north of Tokyo.
Santa Clara, California-based Intel said yesterday it sold its one billionth flash chip since 1988. The chip manufacturer plans to aggressively step up its production process to put out one billion more in the next 24 months, the company said in a statement.
Intel said it plans to produce four times as many flash megabytes next year as it did last year, by switching from 0.25-micron technology to 0.18-micron production.
That transition will allow Intel to almost double the number of chips it produces on each wafer. The company started using 0.18-micron lithography to produce chips in its Santa Clara facility, and will be using 0.18-micron technology in Oregon, New Mexico and the dedicated flash chip facility in Colorado.
Fujitsu is set to announce a partnership today with Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
(AMD) for a new production plant, according to a statement on its Web site. The joint venture is worth approximately 140 billion yen or $1.4 billion.
Flash chips store data when a device is powered off. The bulk of the chips are used in cellular phones, with 45 percent of the first billion chips used in cellular devices, the company said. Intel projects the wireless market will continue to grow rapidly and consume 66 percent of the next billion flash chips.


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To many businesses, class-action lawsuits are synonymous with ambulance-chasing lawyers extracting multibillion-dollar settlements. They have been called frivolous and are faulted for swelling the legal costs of Wall Street banks and Main Street auto lenders.
For years, financial firms have tried to ward them off by requiring customers to agree not to file class-action suits, but to take their disputes to arbitration instead.
Now, the nation’s consumer watchdog agency — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — is aiming to reopen the courthouse doors for the tens of millions of people who have signed away their right to sue.
On Wednesday, the agency is set to propose the rough draft of rules that would prevent financial companies from barring their customers from filing class-action litigation as a condition of obtaining credit cards or checking accounts.

domain: news


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DETROIT (AP) - - Ford is recalling more than 89,000 new Escape SUVs and Fusion sedans because the engines can overheat and catch fire.
The company says the 2013 vehicles have 1.6-liter engines and were sold in the U.S. and Canada.
Ford says it's working on a fix and is asking owners to call their dealers, who will loan them another car at no charge until the problem is solved.
The company says it has reports of 12 fires in Escapes and one in a Fusion. No injuries have been reported.
Fusion and Escape models with different engines are not affected by the recall.
For more information, visit: http://myfrd.co/SrDTyh
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Top Money Headlines
Yahoo is buying online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to rejuvenate an Internet icon that had fallen behind the times.


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About This Source - ABC News (Australia)
The video item below is from ABC News (Australia). ABC News is a public news service in Australia produced by the News and Current Affairs division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Recent from ABC News (Australia):
ABC News (Australia) published this video item, entitled “‘Huge disappointment’: Minister apologises for discount vouchers failure | ABC News” – below is their description.
A second attempt to offer Canberrans discounts to local restaurants, retail and services has been put on hiatus just days after launching as technical issues continue to plague the site.
ChooseCBR launched on Wednesday with a pot of $2 million for Canberrans to spend on local businesses, offering as much as 50 per cent off for customers.ABC News (Australia) YouTube Channel
Got a comment? Leave your thoughts in the comments section, below. Please note comments are moderated before publication.


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On the day a total solar eclipse will sweep the United States, Google will introduce the latest Android operating system, Android O, through a live streaming event in New York City at 2:40 pm ET, reads a post in An Android page.
The teaser on the page shows a running clock for the ad, along with a catchphrase: “Android Or is coming to Earth with total solar eclipse, bringing some super (sweet) new powers!”
Android will be Android from Google version 8.0 after Android Nougat. Revealed in March, the operating system is currently in its fourth developer preview, however, without a codename.
To date, Google has not officially revealed what the “O” in “Android O” represents, while many believe it could be Oreo. In fact, in a file captured by Android Police, Google accidentally revealed that the version will be called Oreo. However, it will only be confirmed on 21 August.
The latest version of Android 8.0 developer brings a lot of bug fixes and a number of improvements to improve stability.
The first version is expected to be deployed on Google devices such as Pixel and Nexus and later on another Android device, including Samsung and Nokia.happy wheels
Feb 19, 2018 0ShareShockingly movie producers get uncommon inconveniences...
Apr 10, 2017 0


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Today Steve Jobs took the stage at his very own WWDC keynote. The iPhone 4 is the newest iPhone to be released later this month, June 24th, 2010 for $199 on a 2-year contract. The iPhone 4 has many new features, and is the same exact phone as the phone leaked by Gizmodo and many other websites, such as the iPhone 4 leaked in Vietnam last month.
The main new feature in iPhone 4 is that there is video chatting since there is now a front-facing camera. The iPhone 4, like I just stated, has a front-facing camera which is capable of video chatting through the new video-chatting application, Facetime. Facetime is going to allow iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 video chatting over WiFi only.
The iPhone 4 also has a new 5 megapixel camera capable of recording 720p video recording. There is also a LED flash on the back of the iPhone 4, and a mobile iMovie application is now going to be available on the phone for a fee of $4.99. iMovie for iPhone will be available in iTunes shortly.
Moving along to the screen on the iPhone 4, there is a new Retina display, which is Apple's new technology that allows more ppi (pixels per inch) than the human eye can see. The screen resolution on the new iPhone 4 is a whopping 960 x 640, which is better than any phone on the market today.
Next, the hardware. The iPhone 4, like stated before, has both a front and back facing camera. The back of the phone is completely flat and has a new material which is supposedly 30x harder than plastic. There is also stainless steel edges to the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 also has new volume controls, which instead of being attached, are now two separate circular buttons. One is to raise the volume, and one is to lower the volume. The vibrate switch is also different, and is now longer.


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Banchory Business Association (BBA) held its annual general meeting at the Cowshed Restaurant with more than 30 members attending.
Following the business report, when chairman Dick Taylor was re-elected, Logan Sangster was appointed vice- chairman, Paul Panchaud as secretary and Angela Muir as treasurer. Isla Elliott and Moira Gash are new committee members.
BBA had a successful year of guest speakers, and social events, including the Banchory Pipe Band Competition, Christmas Fayre and Fashion show and lights switch on.
The next event is the Christmas drinks reception for members and guests at the Tor-Na-Coille Hotel on Sunday, December 11. The 2017 Traders Ball is in February at Banchory Lodge Hotel. Tickets can be obtained through Logan Sangster on 01330 824300.


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What will Black Friday be like without Toys ‘R’ Us?
Target, Walmart, Amazon, and a spate of big retailers are pouncing on the first holiday shopping season in decades without Toys 'R' Us. Toys 'R' Us closed its doors after 70 years in business earlier this year, leaving behind hundreds of stores and $10.5 billion in annual sales. In Toys 'R' Us' absence, retailers eye an opportunity to capture market share and pump up toy sales. Their efforts will reach a fever pitch on Black Friday and into the holiday stretch.
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Food inflation appears to be easing in Canada, but experts say shoppers shouldn't expect lower prices at the grocery store.
Statistics Canada said Tuesday the cost of groceries in February rose 10.6 per cent compared with a year before, down from an 11.4 per cent year-over-year increase in January.
Yet a falling food inflation rate doesn't mean the price of food is coming down.
Instead, it means prices are rising less quickly, signalling the worst of the grocery price hikes could be behind us.
"Consumers may still feel sticker shock at the grocery store because the products they buy are up closer to 15 or 20 per cent," said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
In the month of February, multiple pantry staples increased by nearly double the overall inflation rate for food purchased from stores.
Pasta prices rose 23.1 per cent last month compared with a year earlier, flour jumped 22.9 per cent and butter increased 19.7 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
Fats and oils also climbed significantly higher than the food basket average, up 18.8 per cent year over year. Sugar and syrup prices rose 15 per cent, cereal was up 14.8 per cent and eggs increased 13.6 per cent.
Still, the overall pace of food price increases eased in February and is expected to abate further in the coming months, Charlebois said.
"We expect the food inflation rate to continue to drop as we head into spring and early summer," he said.
Meanwhile, restaurant prices eased even more than grocery prices in February.
Statistics Canada said food purchased from restaurants rose 7.7 per cent last month compared with a year before, down from 8.2 per cent price growth in January.
"People are being extra careful with their budget these days and restaurant operators are being very prudent with menu prices," Charlebois said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2023.
Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press


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Coronavirus: DealShare to provide home essentials to underprivileged households hit by COVID-19
To help economically weak households get access to essential items during the coronavirus pandemic-related lockdown, home delivery service company DealShare on Friday launched an initiative to provide kits, containing various essentials, to households in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.
Distributed under the ‘DealShare Essentials Allotment Scheme (DEALS),’ each relief kit contains 15 essential items, including cooking oil, flour, sugar, rice, onion, potato, salt, pulses, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder, tea, washing soap and bathing soap, among other items.
DealShare, set up in 2018, is a Jaipur-based grocery delivery company that lets customers purchase essentials on its app. The startup has pockmarked around 10 percent of its profit towards the cause, and it aims to provide home essentials to more than 10,000 households across the country.
DealShare founding team
Vineet Rao, Founder and CEO of DealShare says,
“COVID-19 has created an unexpected and unparalleled situation, especially in smaller markets, and has impacted the purchasing power of many households. Several households are struggling to access the essentials owing to shortage of food supply and cash crunch and we felt that it is our utmost duty to serve the society with our complete strength.”
DealShare has been at the forefront in ensuring a continuous supply of home essentials across Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. It was one of the first few e-commerce players to receive official permission from the state administrations to continue their services after the lockdown was announced.
The permissions helped DealShare provide home essentials to its 10 lakh customers. Apart from customers, the sanction from the authorities has benefited more than 100 indigenous, local brands who have been selling home essentials like rice, sugar, flour, and oil on the platform. The move has also enabled DealShare to extend their support to more than 10,000 retail and kirana stores across the states.


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Luxury and expedition cruises are the fastest growing market segments, according to the 2022 Cruise Industry News Annual Report.
The luxury segment has grown 119 percent since 2012 to an annual passenger capacity of approximately 721,078 passengers in 2022, from 324,512 in 2012. With more new ships under construction or on order, the market segment is projected to continue to grow to reach nearly 1.2 million passengers by 2027. (This is as far as the current orderbook goes).
The expedition market, albeit smaller than the luxury segment, has seen even more dramatic growth over the past 10 years, from approximately 67,000 passengers in 2012 to 367,557 in 2022, for a 450 percent expansion. The market is projected to grow to more than 430,000 passengers annually by 2027. And more new ships are in the planning stages.
While the percentage growth for luxury and expedition cruise market segments is dramatic, the contemporary and premium market segments are far larger at a total of approximately 27.5 million passengers in 2022 from 17.6 million in 2012.
The 2022 Cruise Industry News Annual Report is available in hard copy or digital form and can be ordered here .


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Climate-friendly Food Is Easier Than We Think
With people increasingly aware of the climate impact of their lifestyles, the spotlight is falling on the food we eat. Agriculture and related land-use account for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But not all foods are created equal, and plant-based foods are generally a lot less resource-intensive to produce than animal proteins. Take beef vs. beans: per gram of protein, beef production uses 20 times the land and generates 20 times the GHG emissions as beans.
Much attention is paid to unusual innovations aimed at offering a wider variety of food options with a smaller climate footprint — like crackers made from insects or algae protein bars. But large institutions that want to offer diners climate-friendly food options are finding it’s more straightforward than expected. That’s in part thanks to recent behavioral science research, which shows that small changes in menu language or creating delicious plant-centered dishes can greatly increase the uptake of sustainable offerings. In short, they’ve found it’s already possible to eat tomorrow’s climate-friendly diet today, through easy changes that don’t compromise on flavor or cost.
New data from the Cool Food Pledge — a group of restaurants, cities, hospitals and companies that have committed to cutting GHG emissions associated with the food they serve by 25% by 2030, in line with Paris Agreement goals — show that members were able to collectively reduce emissions by 4.6% overall and by 12% per plate in just four years. Some members have reduced emissions even more quickly, showing big changes are possible within a short time.
Food consumption in restaurants, workplace canteens and school cafeterias has fallen dramatically during the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns. While the industry begins to revive amid calls for a “green” recovery, these results can serve as inspiration, showing what could be achievable when the wider food service industry picks up again post-COVID. When diners return, food service operators should seize the chance to ensure strong and engaging sustainability credentials are at the center of their menu offerings. Offering more plant-rich options is key to hitting climate targets since as they are generally much less resource-intensive to produce.
So what does that mean for organizations serving food? And how feasible is it? Lessons from Cool Food Pledge members show that meaningful progress toward a sustainable food future is simple. It’s just a case of keeping the spotlight on what’s delicious, cost-effective and low-carbon.
Here are the three main lessons:
1. Make It Delicious.
Climate-friendly food doesn’t have to be dull. Take the example of biotech company Genentech, which has 10,000 staff based in California, and an in-house culinary team creating chef specials. When it joined the Cool Food Pledge it changed the chef specials to plant-rich options — serving up even more vegetables, pulses and grains. Some of the new dishes included “Vegan Jackfruit, Okra and Seitan Jambalaya” with brown rice, Creole sauce and shaved scallions as well as “Charred Yucatan Vegetables” with an array of vegetables, stewed black beans, habanero pickled red onions and flour tortillas. Following positive responses from employees, demand for the new plant-rich options grew while demand for the more traditional, meat-heavier options declined. Between 2018 to 2019 alone, the company reduced the climate impact of each plate of food it serves by an incredible 33%.
2. Keep It Cost-Effective.
Climate-friendly food doesn’t have to increase costs — and can even reduce them.
In the health care sector, at UCSF Health, forward-thinking chefs decided to couple a more climate-friendly ethos with a cost-effective one while feeding patients and visitors. UCSF had a 100% beef burger that wasn’t selling well, so switching to a 70:30 beef/mushroom blended burger in 2017 that sold better was a no-brainer. The Department of Nutrition and Health Services at UCSF Health realized the blended burger would cost less, the mushroom would ensure it remained flavorful and the reduction in beef would help UCSF Health hit its climate-friendly target for food.
At the same time, its central menu evolved from serving 20 entrees featuring beef in 2017 down to just three by 2020. This more plant-rich menu has proven both better for the climate and more appealing to customers. UCSF Health’s total food-related GHG emissions dropped by 13% in just three years, the biggest reduction amongst the health care members of the Cool Food Pledge.
3. Explore the World of Plants.
A welcome consequence of committing to a climate-friendly menu offering has been a surge in the quantity of vegetables, pulses and grains procured and served by member organizations. In fact, members purchased 12% more plant-based food items in 2019 relative to the base year. The University of Cambridge’s University Catering Service, which manages 14 cafés and canteens and caters for 1,500 events a year, has phased out ruminant meat completely, and guests can enjoy Swedish-style Vegballs, Smoky Moroccan Chickpea Stew and sweet potato burgers instead. Emissions dropped by more than 30% even as the university served 30% more food, reflecting the significant change in the ingredients that make up the meals it is serving.
Having an Impact Isn’t Rocket Science
This variety of progress reflects the distinct environments in which these organizations operate and the different diners they serve. Many are cutting emissions even as the number of meals they serve grows.
While every dining facility will have its own unique operations, the Cool Food Pledge is providing structure and guidance to help the food industry lower the carbon footprint of food in line with climate science. Members are guided through a three-steps of “pledge, plan, and promote”: they pledge to reduce food-related GHG emissions by 25% by 2030; they develop a plan to achieve their aims using the latest behavioral science; and by promoting their achievements, they are on the front lines of a growing movement that’s slashing the impact that food has on the climate.
To learn more, check out CoolFood.org.


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Viega has introduced a new generation of pre-wall bathroom technology with the launch of Prevista, mixing classic design, bold new ideas & the latest innovations.
Housing experts are highlighting the growing priority to create tailored environments where older people can continue to live – Closomat is delivering on this.
A brace of awards could be coming the way of leading bathroom manufacturer, Geberit, as the company has been shortlisted in two categories at the annual Builder Merchants Journal (BMJ) Industry Awards.
Lakes has announced the addition of a new contemporary collection to its range of shower seats, grab rails and bars.
Closomat is taking steps to make it easier to ensure that the bathrooms of existing homes are able to be adapted for the future.
Lakes, a leading manufacturer of showering spaces and a carbon-neutral company, has introduced a refreshed #DesignedForLife brochure for the new year.
Closomat is lending its support to a new campaign calling for all new build homes to be designed to be accessible and adaptable.
Lakes is pleased to have been shortlisted for two Construction Marketing Awards: ‘Best use of Research and Insight’ and ‘Best use of Advertising’ working with MRA Marketing.
Fibo UK has launched a new website with a Visualiser design tool that shows how its high-performance wall panels transform kitchens and bathrooms.
According to guidance published by RIBA, a well-designed bathroom is often the key to dignity and independence. Closomat offers the ideal solution.


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Tag Heuer opens new plant in Jura village
Swiss luxury watch brand Tag Heuer opened a new 25-million-franc factory this week in Chevenez, a village in the canton of Jura.
The plant, which produces mechanical movements, will employ 100 people by the end of the year, the company said on Tuesday.
The factory is the fourth opened by Tag Heuer, controlled by French luxury group LVMH, which also owns Swiss watchmakers Hublot, Zenith, Bulgari and Chaumet.
The company, headquartered in the watch-making town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel, said with the new plant it expects to be able to double production of its mechanical watch movements to about 100,000 a year by 2016.
Tag Heuer has invested 40 million francs ($44 million) in the past five years to develop new mechanical movements for its watches, it said.
Founded in 1860 by Swiss watchmaker Edouard Heuer, the son of a bootmaker living in the Jura, the company employs 1,000 people globally and bills itself as the “world’s fourth largest prestigious watch brand”.
In addition to its new factory, the company announced the opening of a new boutique in Paris, near the Opéra Garnier.
With major markets in the US and China, Tag Heuer has enlisted the likes of Hollywood actors Leonardo Di Caprio and Cameron Diaz to market its timepieces, which start at around $1,500.


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Shares of the Seattle company at last check rose 1.75% to $3149.80.
Prime Day, which is typically held in July, was delayed by three months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Concern about supply-chain disruptions and managing excess inventory of Amazon devices amid the pandemic also contributed to the delay of the much-hyped event.
Amazon said it would spend an additional $100 million on promotions to help hard-hit small businesses reach more consumers. Small businesses generally have been hammered during the pandemic as shoppers were forced to stay home.
Starting Monday the tech giant will also offer Prime members a $10 credit to use on Prime Day when they spend $10 on items sold by select small businesses in Amazon’s store.
"In the midst of an unprecedented year, we’re committed to making this the most successful Prime Day ever for our small businesses and excited for Prime members worldwide to discover new ways to support local entrepreneurs and save big on everything they need and love,” Jeff Wilke, Amazon's CEO for worldwide consumer, said in a statement.
Prime members pay $119 a year or $13 a month for their subscriptions. For that cost, they get free and fast shipping, free streaming access to movies, video and music, free online storage for photos, discounts at the company's Whole Foods chain and more.
Amazon last week unleashed an array of new products including new Echo models, a game service called Luna, a drone for home security, and many others.
And two weeks ago Amazon said it planned to hire as many as 100,000 full- and part-time employees across the U.S. and Canada to work in its growing network of fulfillment centers.


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The Nigeria securities regulator has created a dedicated fintech division to study cryptocurrencies. This comes after calls from the government to provide a concrete regulatory framework for crypto-assets.
Fintech Division Set to Propose Crypto Regulations
This development was revealed by the SEC Director-General Lamido Yuguda in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. The new fintech division is expected to research crypto investment and products in a bid to present concise regulations for the crypto industry.
According to Yuguda the SEC was exploring different ways to help investors protect their investment in cryptocurrencies.
“We are looking at this market closely to see how we can bring out regulations that will help investors protect their investment in blockchain,” he added.
The SEC chief did not provide a specific time frame for regulations but added that the regulator would act once cryptocurrencies are allowed within the banking system. He also hinted that the commission was in close collaboration with the central bank and associated with the upcoming digital currency the e-naira.
Yuguda concluded that the commission was working with fintech firms to boost the marketing of domestic securities to prevent capital flight. It should be noted that the central bank had in August frozen the accounts of several investment firms for allegedly sourcing funds from unauthorized platforms to buy foreign stocks and securities.
Cryptocurrencies Remain Banned in Nigeria
Cryptocurrencies are currently banned in Nigeria but this has not stopped traders from using p2p trading platforms to circumvent existing regulations. Digital currencies are viewed by Nigerians as a hedge against the weakening naira and an alternative to paying for imports and services.
The central bank has tried to stem the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies with the launch of the e-naira. The digital currency is currently under development and expected to be launched on October 1st in line with the Independence celebrations.
The apex bank expects the digital currency to reduce financial exclusion and encourage domestic trade within the country. It also released an extensive guideline that highlighted how the implementation and distribution of the e-naira will be deployed.
Nevertheless, the local crypto community is not convinced that the digital currency will live up to expectations. Many are of the opinion that it is merely an extension of the existing fiat currency and will not have the desired effect in the financial system.


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Bank accused over Arcadia blunder
TOP investment bank Schroder Salomon Smith Barney has been identified as the culprit in the fax fiasco that forced fashion retailer Arcadia, parent of chains including Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge, to disclose news of a takeover approach.
Arcadia announced on Thursday that Icelandic retailer Baugur, headed by Jon Johannesson and already holding over 20%, was weighing up a bid. An offer would value Arcadia at up to £570m.
The Takeover Panel forced Arcadia to disclose the approach after the firm admitted that someone had misdirected a fax of a letter with Baugur's offer.
This put the crucial, pricesensitive information into hands outside a small circle of Arcadia directors and City advisers.
It has now emerged that the blunder was made by someone at Arcadia's bank, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. 'It was a cock-up, not a conspiracy,' said an insider.
Johannesson first told Arcadia of Baugur's ambitions to bid two weeks ago. A formal letter outlining the Icelanders' ambitions was sent to Arcadia nine days ago.
It was when a fax to advisers and directors detailing this approach went astray that the news leaked out.
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The days of brand remaining quiet on big social issues are over.
This is not coming from nowhere. 64 percent of consumers choose, switch, avoid, or boycott a brand based on its stand on social issues, according to a study by Edelman. So it doesn't come as a surprise that, a majority of consumers believe brands have better ideas for solving countries' problems than a government.
Welcome to an era of social good and why brands are more eager than ever to share stories about their do-good efforts.


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Vending machine gives out bikes & . . .
Jun 22, 2012 / 5:00 am
It doesn't dispense pop or chips, it offers items like mountain bikes, kayaks and surfboards, all made in BC.
The BC Moments Machine shocked people passing through Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco back in May, by giving away big ticket prizes.
The one of a kind 14-foot tall, 10-foot wide vending machine dished out BC made products as a way to encourage travellers to experience all the province has to offer.
The Moments Machine is part of Tourism BC's spring summer campaign, titled '100 BC Moments'. The campaign takes place every year, under different titles or objectives and targets North America, but this is the first time Tourism BC has launched a vending machine.
Karen Kasprick, Marketing Communications Manager for Tourism BC, says the ministry decided to do something special for the San Francisco market.
"San Francisco is a really natural fit, because it's only two to two and a half hours away depending on your air carrier. So it's super easy and convenient to get to come up to BC."
Kasprick says in 2010 the Ministry, took the zipline that was used in Vancouver during the Winter Olympics, down to San Francisco as a way to bring another BC experience to life.
Tourism BC has also promoted a winter campaign, where they creating a ski lift out of an escalator in Toronto and gave away vouchers to the 13 BC ski resorts.
The spring summer campaign for this year, which included the Magic Moments machine and an online media campaign, cost the ministry $4 million dollars. Kasprick says the money spent on this campaign is comparative to years past.
As part of the online portion of the campaign the ministry ran a URL titled 100bcmoments.com, which compiled 'moments' from every region in BC and it was nine of these that were selected to be brought to life with the vending machine.
"The whole purpose of going down there and having this machine set up was to get interest for the province and to visit BC this summer, but it was also to bring these moments to life that you could do when you came here," says Kasprick.
Kasprick says the machine was set up to come on at random times throughout the day, over a three day period.
"A street team handed out post cards, and the post cards reflected the nine different moment that were on the vending machine. So when people interacted with the machine, they could select one of the nine different moments that really spoke to them. Then they would watch a little video on the machine that reflected that moment, and then out popped a moment."
Approximately 325 prizes were handed out, from items such as bicycles to water bottles.
Kasprick travelled down to San Francisco to help with the campaign and she says she was amazed at the stories she heard from people about their visits to BC.
"I had one man tell me he had been to Tofino and it was just amazing. He didn't even get in line to use the machine, he just wanted to share his story about his trip to BC."
Those who stopped to speak with the Tourism BC street team were encouraged to go online and learn about more BC moments. Prizes were also available online including a $20,000 vacation for up to 10 people.
Overall Kasprick says the campaign took several months to put together and was developed through the tourism strategy for BC.
It's unclear where the moments machine will wind up next, but Kasprick says Tourism BC is looking into other viable markets.
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The Taj Bengal: new presenceIts hotels, with rare exception, are of a piece with the city: seedy facades, sagging arcades, thinly peopled lobbies and restaurants that tiredly belt out the strains of other times. But the times are a-changing in Calcutta. Job Charnock's city is readying to roll out the welcome mat again for the well-heeled traveller.
Last fortnight, the ITC-managed Welcomgroup chain of hotels announced that it was negotiating for a prime location in central Calcutta to build a 200-room hotel. Not to be out done, the management of the West Bengal Government-owned Great Eastern declared its intention to demolish in phases the 150-year-old hotel in the city's central business district, replacing it with a spanking new 14-storeyed monolith.
Both the announcements came even as the Oberoi group was half-way through a Rs 24-crore programme to renovate the Oberoi Grand. The new-look Grand will have a new colonial style drive-in, an underground car park, additional restaurants, clubs, and suites with private saunas and lawns. Simultaneously, the Taj chain was busy putting up the 200-room Taj Bengal, its first foray into Calcutta.
The four ventures mean an investment of over Rs 100 crore. and will offer clients 1,000 deluxe rooms in a city that now has three nominally five-star hotels, but only one genuinely deluxe hostelry. So there could be room enough for the new entrants. For starters, big business is scouting for investment opportunities in West Bengal.
Then, a number of international airlines, including Singapore Airlines and Poland's LOT are bracing to touch down at Calcutta airport. Last month, the Tokyo-based principal of Mc Kinsey and Company, the international consultancy firm, offered its services to turn Calcutta into the "gateway" of eastern India.
The optimism, however, is not universally shared. Executives of rival hotel groups are quick to suggest that the new ventures will not be money-spinners. Said Satish Kumar, vice-president of Oberoi Grand: "ITC'S and the Taj's decisions to put up new hotels are not strictly business decisions. Their motive seems to be to establish a base in Calcutta for the future." That is partly true, ITC is kicking off its Rs 40-crore venture, because it wants a hotel on its home turf. Explains an ITC spokesman: "We are ashamed not to have a Welcomgroup hotel in the city where we have our headquarters."
But the Taj project is commercial enough. Project costs have doubled from Rs 12 crore to Rs 25 crore, but the four-storeyed hotel may enjoy a cost advantage over its rivals - it will have to pay the West Bengal Government a relatively piffling rent for the four acre plot on which it is to be sited. So soft were the terms that the venture kicked up a storm in the Calcutta press a few years ago.
Ironically, however, the Government has not been quite as responsive to the needs of its own hotel. Great Eastern's management has been arguing that the profitable state-owned hotel has to be rebuilt. "Our facilities are outdated, our rooms are enormous and the air-conditioning is prohibitively expensive," says hotel administrator A.K. Banerjee.
But its ambitious solution to the problem has run into a wall: the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority, the Government agency responsible for the city's development, has declined to clear it so far.
Nevertheless, Calcutta plainly faces an unprecedented hotel boom. The loser in this could be the highly profitable Grand. Its steady stream of clients has been undeterred by the stiff room rates (50 per cent higher than its five-star competitors).
"The Taj is certainly a force to be reckoned with," admits Oberoi's Kumar, "but we intend to give them a run for their money." That could presage a room rate war, but with renewed hope on the city's economic horizon, the prospects of that happening seem remote.


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It’s been about a year since Google acquired Motorola, which means that pretty much every Motorola phone that’s been released since the acquisition was already in the works before Google got involved. Research, development, and production take time.
But that could change this year, and there’ve rumors of an upcoming Google-influenced Motorola device called the X Fon. While allegedly leaked photos have popped up a few times, Motorola has yet to confirm the phone’s existence.
Clearly the company is working on something, though. An unannounced handset called the Motorola XT1058 just passed through the FCC, and the label drawing looks a lot like the back of the phone in some of those leaked pictures.
The FCC documents don’t tell us much about the device. It supports 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and NFC and works with AT&T’s 4G LTE network.
If this is truly the first Google-influenced superphone from Motorola, odds are we’ll see versions for other wireless networks as well. Motorola and Verizon typically have a pretty chummy relationship, but it’s been a while since Motorola released a smartphone for the largest carrier in the US.
Update: Leaked benchmarks suggest the Motorola XT1058 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 dual core processor, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, and a 1280 x 720 pixel display. If those specs are true, then it sounds like this would have been a top-tier device in 2012, but now it’s looking more like a mid-range smartphone.


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Robert Wilson, one of Northern Ireland’s leading estate agency groups, has joined forces with worldwide property franchise BeckettHanlon to offer its customers a wide range of overseas properties.
BeckettHanlon has an extensive global property portfolio that spans across Europe, USA and Thailand. Each property is carefully vetted to meet the highest standards.
Robert Wilson, owner of Robert Wilson Estate Agency Group said: “We are very excited to launch this new partnership. It’s an exciting time for Northern Ireland; the economy is improving at a steady rate, which has increased consumer confidence, and as a result the property market is returning to strength.
“We’ve noticed an increased demand for international property amongst our own customer base, however we understand many people are nervous when it comes to purchasing abroad which is why we are pleased to partner with BeckettHanlon. They are a local company that have the specialist knowledge and experience to help guide our customers through the entire process of buying abroad, and I’m confident our customers will be in safe hands.”


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China's largest search engine Baidu is suing a former executive, accusing him of stealing self-driving car technology, reports said Friday, as competition in the sector heats up.
Minnesota's attorney general alleges that chemicals dumped by 3M Co. in the Twin Cities metro led to an increase in cancer, infertility and babies with low birth weights.
An Illinois man who federal prosecutors say worked as a spokesman for a "darknet" marketplace for illicit internet commerce has been charged in Atlanta.
Dozens of tech companies, including behemoths like Apple, Google, and Facebook, are siding with Washington state and Minnesota as they fight President Donald Trump's ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly ...
Apple is challenging government efforts to overcome encryption on at least 14 electronic devices nationwide in addition to the phone of a San Bernardino, California, shooter, its lawyers say.
Wildlife advocates reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. government in a legal dispute over an endangered fish in the Yellowstone River along the Montana-North Dakota border.
Microsoft Corp. gets a second chance to prove it's entitled to keep data stored overseas out of the hands of U.S. investigators when its lawyers appear before a federal appeals court Wednesday, but the computer software giant ...
A security researcher told federal agents he was able to hack into aircraft computer systems mid-flight numerous times through the in-flight entertainment systems, and at one point he caused a plane he was on to move sideways, ...
The Supreme Court is belatedly developing an electronic filing system similar to those used in courts around the country, Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday in his annual end-of-year report.
Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have failed to settle their latest patent dispute despite a daylong meeting between top Samsung executives and Apple CEO Tim Cook hosted by a mediator earlier this month.


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Quantic Dream, the developer behind hit, visually impressive action-adventure titles Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, is currently working on its new game called Detroit: Become Human. The upcoming PlayStation 4-exclusive is being developed using a new game engine, and the developer has just revealed some new details on how the team planned to “push the limits” with advanced visual features for its upcoming neo-noir thriller with the help of new game engine Sony’s eighth generation console.
Quantic Dream Boss David Cage Talks About Pushing the Limits With New Engine for Detroit: Become Human
There’s a whole lot of major triple A titles available on PlayStation 4 right now, but only a few have managed to really utilize the hardware to deliver exceptionally beautiful visuals. Quantic Dream planned to do just that by setting visual benchmark on Sony’s latest console with the new game engine that is being used to bring Detroit: Become Human to life. In a recently published interview, Quantic Dream boss David Cage told the PlayStation Blog about the new engine and how it allowed the team to improve the cinematic storytelling.
"All our character are real people. We do a casting session and we find the right actor for the role, then scan his face in 3D, scan his body, recreate his avatar, get him on set and performance capture, and record his performance.”
"We wanted to push the limits with Detroit and have an engine that would offer us more features regarding cinematography in particular. So, we wanted to work on realistic lighting, especially. So we re-developed an entirely new engine from scratch pretty much."
To make lighting more realistic, the French game developer had to come up with numerous new pieces of visual tech that help in accurately rendering light effects. The new visual elements that Quantic Dream worked on includes skin and hair shaders, as well as visual tech that illuminates an in-game character’s ear when light falls on it from behind. Though the team has been working hard to make Detroit: Become Human a visually stunning game, Cage is well aware of the fact that most of the players won’t care about what went into creating this beautiful game, and he says the team is okay with that.
"We worked on skin shaders, we worked on hair shaders, eye shaders. We worked on translucency which allows you to, when you have a strong light behind your ear, see that your ear becomes red."
"We play with all this technology and players don't need to care about all this because it's just interesting for geeks and developers. We hope that players, even if they are not interested in the technology behind all this, will like the result on screen."
Detroit: Become Human tells a story about humans and human-like androids. The game is set to release exclusively for the PlayStation 4, but its release date has not yet been announced.


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In the Guinness World Records category of Most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Airborne Simultaneously, the award goes to...Intel.
The record-breaking feat involved 100 drones flying along pre-programmed paths, all to the music of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
8 Totally Cool Uses For Drones
It happened back in November (although we're just getting a press notice now) in Linz, Austria, where Intel teamed up with Austria's Ars Electronica Futurelab for the occasion.
The LED-equipped quadcopters, weighing just 1.5 pounds each, were manufactured by the German company Ascending Technologies, which Intel just acquired on January 4, 2016.
Ascending Technologies made headlines on DNEWS this past December when they showed off precision software that gave drones the capability of painting holiday-based "light images" in the sky.
Tasty Tech Eye Candy Of The Week
In this latest show, dubbed Drone 100, the swarm of drones climbed to an altitude of about 328 feet and then danced a choreographed routine that ended in a large Intel logo painted in the night sky.
You can watch the video below.


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Sunday, April 5, 2015
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The developers of State of Decay have confirmed that the Xbox One will soon receive the HD version of the game.
More details about the game and its next gen features are expected shortly.
Be it the Xbox One or the Playstation 4, the number of actual games is yet to increase and the exclusives can easily be counted with just your two hands. This time, it is remaking HD versions of old games that has been keeping developers and fans busy.
We are not sure how much players actually love the recreation of the same game. But, Halo Master Chief Collection on the console was a great success and other such titles might make a select group of audiences happy. State of Decay is one such game which is about to get a release date before the end of January.
Developer’s Facebook Reveal
Undead Labs, the people behind the Xbox One game, confirmed that they are all ready to show off their 1080p version of the game that was a hit on the Xbox 360 console. They also added that to make players happy, the team is going to give out special bonus items for those who already own the game on the previous generation console. All these information and more has been revealed on their Facebook page.
Talking more about the upcoming launch, the developers said, “The release date for Yose will be revealed this month. We are looking forward to answering many of your questions and helping our fan community stay updated on the upcoming launches.” Even though the developers didn’t directly address about the game, they said that the upcoming Pax South event is going to be the venue where they plan to talk about all things important.
The Pax South event has been scheduled to take place between January 23 and January 25. With the event close by, we can be sure that developers have fixed the release date and other details related to the game.
State of Decay will soon have a One Year Survival edition which will be in full 1080p and the much better hardware found on Xbox One is expected to make this a possibility. The game runs only at 720p on PC and Xbox 360 consoles so far. So, this would be a significant bump for the title and the developer’s entry into the next gen hardware.


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This week's top stories included coverage of a regulated apportionment arrangement agreed for Hoover's pension scheme.
Also, BT was reported to be considering closing its defined benefit scheme, while Barnado's will launch a new bid to swap the indexation measure its scheme uses. 1) Hoover to cut ties with pension scheme...
Despite improvements in investment manager attitudes towards responsible investment, research reveals there is a way to go before the majority deliver meaningful action. Victoria Ticha explores why
The Co-operative Bank is set to continue de-risking pension schemes after it mitigated further losses by switching from the retail prices index (RPI) to the consumer prices index (CPI).
A model aimed at reducing climate change-related financial risk exposure from corporate credit assets has been launched by Insight Investment.
Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) members should be responsible for most of the cost of increased contributions if the scheme's defined benefit (DB) section remains open to accrual, Pensions Buzz respondents say.


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According to an official announcement by Siam Commercial Bank, SCB is now partnering with Thailand’s PPT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) to employ Ripple’s blockchain technology solution.
Speaking of the success, Siam Commercial Bank SEVP & Chief Wholesale Banking Officer Mr. Wasin Saiyawan said that:
“The project marks a major success in bringing a new international payment service standard for corporate customers using Blockchain technology. The achievement reflects SCB’s commitment to harness the use of new technologies and innovations to transform business in the digital era. We would like to convey our appreciation to PTTEX for choosing SCB as a partner for this collaboration. We are now ready to take the success of this service forward to set a new norm for the industry, enabling our customers to enjoy efficient and speedy service. The service will be implemented in all CLMV and southeast Asian countries by this year, which will serve as a major milestone in the development of cross-border payment services.”
PTTEX Finance and Accounting Group Executive Vice President Mr. Sumrid Sumneing said that:
“PTTEX will work closely with SCB to continue using Blockchain technology for other financial transactions to optimize its digital competitiveness effectively and quickly. This collaboration between SCB and PTTEX sets a new standard for real-time cross border payment, a major step in the evolution of a new financial industry. ”
PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) is a national petroleum exploration and production company based in Thailand. It is a subsidiary of the state-owned PTT Public Company Limited. The company was founded on 20 June 1985. PTTEP’s core business is exploration and production of petroleum in Thailand and foreign countries. As of June 30, 2018, PTTEP Group had 40 petroleum exploration and production projects in 11 countries; 16 projects in Thailand, 15 projects in Southeast Asia, 5 projects in Americas, 3 projects in Africa and 1 project in Australia.


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Source: The Guardian
Surging demand for Vanuatu passports has driven an unexpected record surplus, funding Covid-19 bailout packages and cyclone recovery.
With nearly every other sector of its fragile economy reeling from the twin crises of pandemic lockdowns and April’s category five Cyclone Harold, Vanuatu nonetheless managed to turn a 3.8bn Vanuatu Vatu (US$33.3m) surplus in the first half of 2020.
Its controversial citizenship-for-sale programmes account for nearly all of that.
The government’s half-year economic and fiscal update cites a 32% year-on-year increase in citizenship-related revenues.
To the end of June, the government had collected US$62.6m, nearly 80% of the programme’s projected income for the entire year.
And passport sales are still accelerating. Citizenship commission chairman Ronald Warsal told the Vanuatu Daily Post revenues had climbed above US$84.6m by mid-August, exceeding, already, the annual projection.
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London midday: Stocks holding lower as profit-taking deepens
London stocks were holding lower come midday amid investors' jitters around the prospects for policy tightening by the US central bank and after the Office of National Statistics reported that UK retail sales cratered at the end of 2021.
As of 1200 GMT, the FTSE 100 was trading 0.91% or 69.07 points lower at 7,515.79, alongside a 1.43% or 324.44 point drop on the FTSE 250 to 22,390.85.
Overnight, the Dow Industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all gave back about 1%, alongside a 7.3% jump in the CBoE's volatility index.
"Is this the bear market proper – an end to the ’09-’18 expansion? Jeremy Grantham reckons trend for the S&P 500 is 2,500 – we’re at 4,400 still. Who’s up for a 50% decline? The Fed would try to stop that but can it?," Markets.com chief market analyst Neil Wilson mused out loud.
Worth noting, Thursday's losses in the US materialised despite Janet Yellen, the US Treasury chief, sounding a positive note on the inflation outlook for the year ahead, indicating that it might fall sharply should the pandemic be brought under control.
Adding to the downbeat sentiment, shares of US video-streaming giant Netflix were tumbling 19% in premarket trading after the company's fourth quarter subscriber growth numbers disappointed analysts.
US pre-market equity futures were pointing to a relatively flat start to trading on the Dow Industrial and S&P 500 at the end of the week, although Nasdaq-100 futures were again under some pressure .
On home shores, the latest economic news was very downbeat.
According to the Office for National Statistics, UK retail sales dropped 3.7% month-on-month, which was far worse than the 0.6% drop expected by economists.
Mirroring that drop in retail sales, consultancy GfK's Consumer Confidence Index fell four points in January, to -19, its lowest level since February 2021. GfK attributed the fall to expected rises in inflation, fuel and interest rates.
Joe Staton, Client Strategy Director at GfK, said: " Despite some good news about the easing of Covid restrictions, consumers are clearly bracing themselves for surging inflation, rising fuel bills and the prospect of interest rate rises."
In the background, traders were also keeping a close eye on a potentially critical meetings between the US and Russian foreign policy chiefs in Geneva.
Rio Tinto gets the boot in Serbia
Shares in Rio Tinto fell in both London and Australia on Friday, after Serbia revoked the miner’s lithium exploration licences. The surprise decision, which coincides with a cooling of relations between Belgrade and Canberra over Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, is a major blow for the Anglo-Australian miner. It is seeking to become Europe’s largest supply of the metal, a key ingredient in the batteries used in electric vehicles.
Close Brothers Group reported that the firm had "performed well" over the first half of its financial year with "good" loan book growth and "strong" margins in Banking. Growth momentum at Close Brothers Asset Management had continued, although trading income in Winterflood has moderated since the end of the 2021 financial year.
Investment company Ninety One on Friday said assets under management at December 31 had risen to £141.7bn compared with £128.6bn a year earlier. The figure was a slight rise on the £140bn recorded at the end of last September, Ninety One said in an extremely short trading update.
Promotional products business 4imprint Group said on Friday that full-year unaudited group revenues had shot up in 2021, pushing pre-tax profits towards the upper end of analysts' forecasts. 4imprint stated revenues for the 2021 financial year was approximately $787.0m, an increase of 41% year-on-year, as its total order count was roughly 90% of the figure seen in 2019, demonstrating "a strong recovery" in the business over the course of the year.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 517.00p 1.02%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 531.80p 0.87%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,080.00p 0.70%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,736.50p 0.70%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,134.50p 0.67%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,055.00p 0.64%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,675.00p 0.53%
Avast (AVST) 604.00p 0.53%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 4,208.00p 0.33%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,445.00p 0.31%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Fresnillo (FRES) 826.40p -4.09%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,411.00p -3.66%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,115.00p -3.38%
Evraz (EVR) 546.00p -3.23%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,795.00p -2.78%
Royal Mail (RMG) 460.70p -2.74%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,434.00p -2.57%
Entain (ENT) 1,680.00p -2.55%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 156.85p -2.52%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,440.00p -2.51%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Premier Foods (PFD) 120.80p 1.85%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 240.50p 1.69%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 200.00p 1.42%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 131.40p 1.39%
Ninety One (N91) 268.80p 1.28%
Beazley (BEZ) 490.70p 1.18%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 3,780.00p 1.07%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 2,655.00p 0.95%
Energean (ENOG) 963.50p 0.73%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 198.80p 0.71%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Playtech (PTEC) 611.50p -16.29%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 206.00p -5.50%
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 234.50p -5.06%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 280.00p -4.44%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 398.50p -4.44%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 122.20p -4.01%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 223.60p -3.95%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 246.00p -3.91%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,249.50p -3.85%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 241.80p -3.74%


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Air freight continues to make progress at Brussels Airport, with a strong 18.9% increase in volumes observed in September.
Cargo: fourth consecutive monthly increase in air freight
For the fourth consecutive month, air freight has seen an increase in volumes transported, up 18.9% compared with September 2019. Thanks to this very positive result, Brussels Airport continues to outperform global and European air freight growth. The main cause of the overall negative growth is still the halt in wide-body passenger flights, which severely limits capacity, with freight on passenger aircraft carrying 50% of the freight transported worldwide.
Express services is maintaining its growth compared with last year (+33.8%), while the increase in volumes in the full cargo sector (+88.8%) is accelerating the growth in air freight volumes. This compensates for the limited volumes on passenger flights.


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Full profile →'">
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
Yahoo has seen a lot of turmoil and restructuring in the past couple of months, but it may finally be getting back on track with new product launches. It launched Yahoo Axis, a new search oriented add-on for web browsers last month.
With Axis, it is trying to redefine the search experience and make it more visual, which will enable users to access information they’re searching for without the need to open search results in another tab. It has an attractive visual interface and works with most of the popular browsers. Yahoo also launched an iOS app for Axis.
While still an experiment and albeit an impressive one, if Axis takes off, Yahoo could see a slight increase in its search market share, but that looks unlikely for now. Nevertheless, by leveraging Yahoo’s 700 million user base, Axis could attract a significant number of users in the coming months. The company could also make some more money by tying in advertising with the Axis browser.
For now, it’s good to see Yahoo focusing on products again.
Yahoo competes primarily with Google and Microsoft in the search space. Both Google and Microsoft have rolled out a number of significant updates in the last month, in a bid to grow their market share in search.
We currently have a $18 Trefis price estimate for Yahoo, which stands nearly 20% above its market price.
Like our charts? Embed them in your own posts using the Trefis WordPress Plugin.


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About a year ago, the District line platform at Victoria tube station started to smell a little different. Some said the smell was burgers, some said it was steak. Some said garlic bread, some said onions. Some sick losers said it was burnt track grease or a dead rat. To me, it always smelled like the most delicious roast potatoes, cooked in goose fat.
It was one of those changes that 99 per cent of commuters took for granted, leaving a noble 1 per cent to be perplexed as to why they now left Victoria inexplicably famished. On the internet, the most popular theory was that the smell came from Burger King. Some people are apparently able to discern difference between high-street chains, and, to them, the smell was more Whopper than Big Mac. “To me it’s the distinct smell of Burger King,” one said.
Meanwhile, others donned their tin hats. “I’m pretty sure Burger King vent their kitchens onto this platform intentionally and then put adverts up on the station.”
Whilst they’re wrong to point the blame at Burger King (whose nearest branch is some distance away in the station terminal), they did a better job at identifying the smell than me. It is burgers. First reports of the smell emerged on social media in early 2017, at the same time as Bleecker – a gourmet burger chain – opened premises on Buckingham Palace Road, directly over the underground station, and, more tellingly, the District line platform. The roast potatoes I have been smelling are, in fact, chips; the steak or dead rat, depending on your nose, a beef burger.
To put it simply, the situation has arisen because the District line is a cut and cover line, which is to say that it was created by cutting a deep trench across London, and then covering it with roofing and structures, such as roads and buildings. It is not genuinely subterranean in the sense of its neighbour, the Victoria line. As such, at both the westbound and eastbound ends of the platform there is an exposed area, which, in this case, opens behind commercial premises. Simple.
Because I’m only an occasional visitor to the District Line platforms at Victoria, not to mention a meat eater and general enthusiast for fried goods, I have always enjoyed the smell and assumed that others felt the same. In reality, a lot of people think it smells not just bad, but unacceptably awful.
“The District Line is bad enough without it making your hair and clothes smell terrible,” says Jac, a District line commuter who has waged a one-woman war with TfL on Twitter over the issue. “Even if you are just on the train too near a door you can end up smelling like food for the rest of the day.”
Social media might amplify negative opinions, but there are quite a lot of people who agree with her. The smell has been branded “gross”, “horrendous” and “manky”, but it seems there’s nothing that can be done about it. A spokesperson from TfL told me that all the vents from local businesses and restaurants are legally compliant, and, given that the source is outside the station’s jurisdiction, there’s nothing else they can really comment on.
The basic problem is this: Bleecker ventilate by outputting smutty kitchen air, whilst Victoria ventilates by sucking fresh air down into the platform. The proximity of these two systems, brought together by incompetence rather than malice, means that neither party is culpable or responsible. In the end, it is, as Chris Christie might say, something of a nothing burger.
The air vent at Bleecker. Image: Nick Hilton.
Inside Bleecker, the old ventilation system has been repurposed and repainted into a hipster artefact. It might well be this exact pipe that is providing commuters with their olfactory curate’s egg.
Even though the chronology, geography and evidence of hundreds of noses point to Bleecker as the source, no one from Bleecker was available for comment, and it is impossible to entirely verify this solution without having terrorist-levels of access to the underground system. Either way, they’re unlikely to change this form of inadvertent viral marketing: as one former London Underground worker told me, “TfL could filter the shop vent, but that’s a massive cost and pungent aromas are very hard to filter. They could filter their own vent, but again it may not be practical.” The only organisation which might make some headway over the stink are Westminster council, which confirmed it would investigate the situation.
For now, however, vegetarians ought to beware when exiting at Victoria. So long as Londoners maintain their enthusiasm for expensive, deep-fried fast food, the District line’s meaty stench isn’t going away.This article is from the CityMetric archive: some formatting and images may not be present.


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Looks like Samsung is fond of doing bigger things; like its bigger Galaxy Note 8, launched last year and massive 512GB storage chip launched recently. And now, the South Korean giant has done it again, as it has announced the ongoing production of a massive 30+ terabyte (TB) solid state drive (SSD) called the PM1643.
Samsung’s new SSD is dubbed to be the world’s largest SSD with a capacity of 30.72TB in a standard 2.5-inch drive. Samsung is making big things but that doesn’t mean that all big things are dumb. The drive is as fast as you can imagine, as it has nine flash controllers driving 32 1TB packages of NAND flash, with each package containing 16 layers of 512Gb 3-bit-per-cell V-NAND. This proves that the device delivers twice the capacity and performance of its previous record-setting SSD, the 15.36TB version, which was introduced back in 2016.
Furthermore, there is also another 40GB of DDR4 RAM. The RAM is also exceptional, as the 8Gb chips induced in the RAM are built using Through Silicon Vias (TSVs), enabling them to be stacked vertically. They are assembled into 10 packages each of 4GB.
According to a Samsung’s official statement,
“With our launch of the 30.72TB SSD, we are once again shattering the enterprise storage capacity barrier, and in the process, opening up new horizons for ultra-high capacity storage systems worldwide. Samsung will continue to move aggressively in meeting the shifting demand toward SSDs over 10TB and at the same time, accelerating adoption of our trail-blazing storage solutions in a new age of enterprise systems.”
In addition, the PM1643 can store up to 5,700 full HD videos, with an average size of 5GB per video. The company claims it can reach 400,000 reads and 50,000 write random IOPS, with sequential read and write speeds of 2,100MB/s and 1,700MB/s, respectively.
The company gave no clue on their price and availability in the market, and we are also not expecting these big guns to be on our laptops and desktops anytime soon. However, this affirms that other versions of Samsung’s SSD like 3.84TB, 1.92TB, 960GB, and 800GB are certainly going to get a price cut.


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One of the region's great Christmas traditions returns this weekend, the Mount Isa Christmas Lights tour.
The tour has been going around town for over a decade now and involves hundreds of cars and other vehicles in a cavalcade around town enjoying the best Christmas lights Mount Isa has to offer.
This year's tour is on Sunday, December 12 from 7.30pm starting as always, from the Barkly Hotel car park, with Santa on hand to lend Christmas cheer.
Organiser Megan Crowther is encouraging cavalcaders to dress up their vehicles in festive finery and come along early for the judging with prizes on offer for the best-dressed vehicle.
"We host this event each year as so many people in the community go to great lengths to do up their houses," Ms Crowther said.
"Everyone has their own Christmas traditions and for many that includes looking at lights whether it be with the cavalcade or in their own time."
Ms Crowther said this year's tour would end up in front of the Christmas Tree at the Civic Centre where there "would be a final surprise".
There are also Christmas markets in Isa Square earlier in the day from 8am to 1pm with arts, crafts and foods.
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Amazon Great Freedom Festival 2022 Sale is now live for Amazon Prime subscribers. The sale includes up to 40 percent off on mobiles and accessories, up to 75 percent off laptops and wearables, up to 60 percent off on home and kitchen products and up to 50 percent off TVs across categories of products. and equipment, among other discounts. The five-day sale will open for all buyers on 6th August i.e. after 24 hours. The Amazon Great Freedom Festival sale will also bring additional discounts for State Bank of India (SBI) credit cardholders. In addition, buyers can avail exchange offers, no-cost EMI payment options, Amazon Pay-based offers and coupon discounts.
of amazon great independence festival The sale is currently going on for Prime members. The five-day sale will go live for all from August 6 and promises exciting discounts and bundled offers on a wide range of products. The e-commerce website has joined hands with SBI to offer up to 10 percent instant discount on purchases made with SBI credit cards.
As mentioned, the Amazon sale will bring up to 40 percent off on smartphones and accessories. Smartphones from companies including OnePlus, Xiaomi, Realme, Samsung and iQoo are listed with reduced rates.
Shoppers can avail up to 75 percent off on laptops, wearables and headphones and up to 60 percent off on home and kitchen products. The sale also promises up to 50 percent off on smart TVs and appliances. The prices of products from LG, Xiaomi, OnePlus and Sony are being cut. Apart from this, exchange, coupon-based offers and no-cost EMI payment options are available for the customers.
Like last season, the Kindle e-reader, Echo speakers and Fire TV Stick will be listed at discounted prices during the sale. It is expected that Amazon will reveal more deals in the coming days.
In addition to offers and discounts, the Amazon Great Freedom Festival 2022 sale will see over 60 product launches across smartphones, audio products, wearables and tablets.
It is worth mentioning here that Flipkart is also operating it. Big Saving Days Sale 2022 From August 6th to August 10th. Therefore, it is recommended for buyers to compare prices before making a final purchase decision.


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Launching yet another luxury boutique in Qatar, Ali Bin Ali Luxury – along with renowned London jeweller David Morris – has opened the first David Morris standalone boutique in the country. Located at 6, La Croisette, Porto Arabia – The Pearl-Qatar, the store is sure to become a hotspot for all fashion and luxury lovers in Qatar.
The store was officially opened to the public on May 9 as Mr. Adel Ali Bin Ali, Chairman & President of ABA Group, Mr. Awn Zureikat, Chief Operating Officer – ABA Luxury along with Mr. Jeremy Morris, MD of David Morris, ceremoniously cut the ribbon in front of VIP guests and media. The latest novelties of David Morris, which were brought to Qatar specifically for the event, were revealed on the occasion of the boutique’s opening.
Nestled in the heart of Porto Arabia, home to The Pearl-Qatar’s main marina, the intimate yet luxurious boutique exudes sophistication with a contemporary design beautifully styled in a colour palette of cool silvers and greys juxtaposed with warming hues of gold and bronze. With bespoke furnishings of dark wood and metal accents, the setting perfectly reflects the glamour of the fine jewellery.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Adel Ali Bin Ali said: “We want to get the best from around the world to Qatar. By partnering with David Morris and opening a standalone boutique, we are inching closer to our vision. The people of Qatar appreciate fashion and luxury and I am sure they are going to love the David Morris collection.”
Mr. Jeremy Morris said, “We are proud to continue the growth of our brand in such a key region with partners Ali Bin Ali. We hope that clients will embrace our new store and delight in having the London jeweller at their doorstep.”


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SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Leading furniture makers in South Korea are seeking ways to tap into the overseas market to find new growth engines beyond the saturated domestic market amid sluggish consumption, industry officials said Thursday.
Major furniture markers have generated most of their revenue from the domestic market, but they have been turning their eyes abroad in the face of tougher competition with Swedish furniture giant IKEA and emerging rivals.
Iloom Inc., a home furnishing unit of Fursys Group, has been gearing up preparations in opening its first store in China next year, following shops in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
“Besides China, we will step up preparations to open new shops in Japan and Singapore,” Kang Sung-moon, the chief executive of iloom, said. “Iloom has competitive edge in student furniture. As families in Asian countries pay keen attention to children’s education, the target customers will be higher-income families.”
Iloom has expanded its market share with eco-friendly furniture for students, raising its sales from 63.5 billion won (US$54.9 million) in 2013 to 131.5 billion won in 2015.
Last month, Hanssem Co., the nation’s leading home furnishing company, announced plans to invest 85 billion won by the end of next year to expand its presence in China.
Hanssem said it will open its first shop in a Shanghai shopping mall in July 2017 and operate online malls to sell its home design, furnishings and kitchenware.
The company posted 474.8 billion won in sales in the third quarter and had its largest quarterly profit since 2011 thanks to strong demand in home furnishing and kitchenware.


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Apple has published some new adoption rate numbers for its mobile operating systems, and they reveal an interesting situation where the trajectories of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 compared to their predecessors are practically opposite.
iOS 17 adoption is trailing iOS 16 adoption around the same time last year. The new version is already on 76% of iPhones introduced in the last four years. That’s compared to 81% for iOS 16 at a similar point in time. Sure, the difference isn’t huge but it’s there – perhaps people don’t consider iOS 17 and its subsequent point updates as important as they did iOS 16 a year ago?


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General Cigar Serving Up Punch Kung Pow!
First there was the Punch Eggroll, and then the Punch Chop Suey. This month, General Cigar is delivering another entry inspired by the Chinese food menu—the Kung Pow! An obvious take on Kung Pao chicken, the new Punch Kung Pow! cigar measures 6 inches by 52 ring gauge and has a suggested retail price of $5.99 each.
“The medium-to-full-bodied blend is vaguely sweet with an undercurrent of spice, just like the popular Chinese food dish of the differently-spelled name,” said Ed Lahmann senior brand manager for Punch.
Made in Honduras at the HATSA factory, Punch Kung Pow! is rolled with a five-country blend: Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Honduran binder and filler from Brazil, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
The new cigar is scheduled to reach retailers on February 15 and joins at least four other cigar companies in celebrating the Chinese New Year, which, according to the Chinese zodiac is the Year of the Ox.
Like past releases, the smoke comes in a 20-count novelty box that looks more like a Chinese-food takeout container than it does typical cigar packaging. Only 4,500 boxes are being produced, which, the company points out, is 850 more boxes than last year’s release.


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If you are constantly typing in the Word program or doing numbers in Excel or devising all sorts of PowerPoint presentations, you’re in for a real treat. Microsoft is handing you the cherry on top by allowing you to continue your work with Microsoft Office for Android.
This was a public statement issued by Microsoft back in 2014 in which the company: “took the next step to bring the productivity of Office to everyone with new Office apps and experiences for the iPhone and iPad, a preview of Office apps for Android tablets, and the ability for customers using these devices to create and edit Office content without a subscription.” Microsoft just acquired every single feature related to the Microsoft Office.
As of now, all of these features can also be used on your Android handset. Here is what the VP for the Office Client Applications and Services stated: “Five weeks ago, we announced the Office for Android phone preview. We are so grateful to our preview users, and with their help we were able to test the apps on over 1,900 different Android phone models in 83 countries. During the preview, we heard from thousands of these users, and over the last few weeks we were able to incorporate a lot of their feedback into the apps we’re launching today. For example, we made it easier to connect to other popular third-party storage offerings like Google Drive and Box, as well as many usability adjustments to make it easier to navigate commands within the apps.”
One state-of- the-art feature that was turning the spotlight on was: the quick review one as well as the editing feature, a feature that will permit users to go over their documents, go over the comments and write their own if they wish.
Full presentations from one’s mobile device
Microsoft strongly confirms that users can take their handsets with them at any type of conference and do a wireless presentation. You get the same exact transitions displayed in the PowerPoint as well as the identical designs that a desktop variant will offer you. Make sure you use all of the features to make your presentations stand out.
Immediate file access
Users can instantly look up the files/documents that they’ve been working on while they were at their job, directly from the handset. You have the OneDrive option to save all of your files, but don’t disregard the DropBox or the Box one.
Attainable in no time
Microsoft signed a partnership with more than 30 OEMs( worth mentioning are LG, Sony and Samsung). These will pre-load all of these applications on your Android gizmo. Expect these gizmos to hit the stores in 2015.


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Roku is expanding its suite of OTT advertising tools. The latest addition is a solution called Activation Insights, a tool specifically designed to track and target audiences that have shifted their viewing from linear TV to streaming video.
The solution is meant to try and bridge the divide between linear TV and OTT, with Magna Global research showing that OTT now represents 29% of TV viewing, but only 3% of ad spend.
Activation Insights conducts a review of the marketer’s linear TV campaign performance, as well as an analysis of the streaming audience the campaign may have missed.
It then suggests where to spend the budget on Roku’s platform to make up that gap.
The new tool will be part of Roku’s Ad Insights Suite, which leans on the company’s 29 million active users to measure streaming reach and effectiveness.
“By adding the ability to tie advertising performance on linear with a specific audience that advertisers can gain on OTT, we are addressing a longstanding industry challenge for OTT media planning,” said Scott Rosenberg, senior vice president-GM of Roku’s platform business. “We believe it’s no longer a question of when advertising budgets will shift to streaming but how much.”
Roku is among the most popular OTT platforms, securing market share through its own hardware and as a software provider for smart TV makers. It has also expanded its advertising and data reach by launching its own streaming offering, The Roku Channel, which provides free streaming movies and videos, as well as access to premium subscriptions purchased with one click.


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KARACHI - Businesses, marriage halls, restaurants, transport, and offices in the province will remain open today after eight days of lockdown in the province amid spike in COVID-19 cases. According to a notification issued from the provincial home department, the lockdown was lifted in the province from August 9 with ease in restrictions announced until August 31.
According to the notification, the businesses have been allowed to open in the province until 8:00pm with Friday and Sunday declared as safe days. “Milk, pharmacies, petrol pumps, vegetable, and meat shops are exempted from timing restrictions and could remain open round the clock,” it said.
All types of indoor gatherings have been banned in the province, however, the outdoor gatherings would be allowed with participants not exceeding the limit of 300 people from Monday (today).
The provincial government also allowed outdoor marriage functions until 10:00pm with vaccinated participants attending the gathering.
Restaurants are allowed to operate outdoor dine-in until 10:00pm five days a week besides operating take-away and home delivery facilities round the clock during the entire week.
The tourism is allowed in the province only for vaccinated people while wearing a facemask is mandatory at public spaces for individuals all the time.
The district administrations have, however, being empowered to imposed a smart lockdown in their areas in case of a spike in COVID-19 cases. Offices, public transport, and train services have been allowed to operate with 50 percent attendance.
Indoor gyms have been allowed to operate with mandatory vaccination for all those attending the space while contact sports like boxing, kabaddi and others are banned as per the notification issued by the home department.
The facilitates that are exempted from the ease in restrictions included amusement parks, water parks, and swimming pools while cinemas and shrines will also remain closed.


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The U.S. Air Mobility Command (AMC) is looking for a few good tablets (with apologies to the Marine Corps) to replace bulky flight manuals and flight charts. A logistics arm of the Air Force—or the “airline for the Air Force,” as noted in the comments below—the AMC announced that it will be purchasing, “a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 18,000, iPad 2, Brand Name or Equal devices” as part of its effort to reduce its reliance on paper manuals.
The announcement was first spotted by NextGov (via 9to5Mac), which first reported the plan as one to specifically buy iPad 2 models from Apple. Lt. Col. Glen Roberts of the AMC has since clarified that it is looking for, “a tablet device, not necessarily an iPad.”
The issue of replacing flight manuals with iPads (or other tablets, but…you know, iPads) was first latched onto by commercial airlines who saw the devices as a great way to lower costs. Tablets not only weigh less, they can be kept up to date far more easily and much more cheaply than printing new manuals.
United Airlines, for instance, announced in August that it would save 326,000 gallons of fuel per year by using iPads instead of printed manuals. Delta announced its own iPad program in August, and other airlines have been working on their own programs.
This same sentiment was voiced in December by Maj. Gen. Rick Martin, director of operations for the AMC, who said, “Moving from a paper-based to an electronically based flight publication system will not only enhance operational effectiveness, it can also save the Department of Defense time and money.”
One issue facing the military when it comes to moving to a device like the iPad is that iOS hasn’t yet been certified by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology. According to NextGov, security certification for Apple’s mobile operating system isn’t expected until August of 2012 at the earliest.
The AMC’s plan to buy up to 18,000 tablets could, therefore, take until sometime after that before it is implemented.


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German govt and industry pledge support for 2030 electric car target at mobility summit
The German government and leading automakers reiterated their goal of putting at least 15 million electric vehicles on German roads by 2030 at an industry summit in Berlin on Monday (27 November). The ambitious goal looks increasingly difficult to achieve in view of declining sales, but political leaders and industry representatives remained resolute. Hosted by chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Transformation of the Automotive and Mobility Industry Strategy Platform focused largely on the need for electric cars over other potential solutions, such as fuel cells and synthetic fuels. Electric vehicle advocates in industry and government argued that fuel cells and e-fuels were “not an alternative,” Tagesspiegel reported. Participants, which also included representatives from auto suppliers, semiconductor and battery producers, the energy sector and environmental associations, also agreed that the costs of electric cars must be reduced in order to achieve the target figure.
Technological developments in batteries and the increasing development of a circular economy could also contribute to lower prices, the government said in statement. Participants also welcomed measures to promote the development of semiconductor and battery production capacities and investments in the expansion of local industrial networks, which are expected to strengthen the resilience of the industry – a major goal of the summit. In further efforts to bolster resilience, automakers and suppliers have changed their procurement strategies of raw materials and semiconductors through long-term supply contracts, purchase guarantees and cooperation and planning along the entire value chain. Monday’s summit followed the first such mobility event held early this year in which Scholz sought to renew efforts to tackle the country’s lagging emission reductions in the transport sector.


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Airtel Nigeria has led the Group’s regional growth by 27.7% while East Africa and the Francophone Africa region trail behind Nigeria by 22.7% and 17.2% respectively.
Airtel Africa Plc results for the year ended 31 March 2022 released by the Group attributed its revenue growth to data and mobile money.
According to the report, constant currency underlying revenue growth was strong in all regions: Nigeria up 27.7%, East Africa up 22.7% and Francophone Africa up 17.2%; and across all key services, with revenue in Voice up 15.4%, Data up 34.6% and Mobile Money up 34.9%.
The company reported a revenue growth of 20.6% for the year, to $4,714m, and 17.8% for Q4 and operating free cash flow of $1,655m, which was up by 40.5%, with net cash generated from operating activities up 20.7% to $2,011m.
The reported a customer base of 128.4 million, up 8.7%, with increased penetration across mobile data (customer base up 15.2%) and mobile money services (customer base up 20.7%).
It however noted that NIN/SIM regulations in Nigeria impacted customer growth in half quarter but then returned to strong growth, adding 4 foru million customers in Nigeria during the half quarter of 2022.
Commenting on the report, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Africa Mr Segun Ogunsanya said, “This is another strong set of results for Airtel Africa, demonstrating our solid execution as we continue to enrich the lives of a growing number of people through leveraging the sizeable opportunity to promote digital and financial inclusion across our markets.”
According to him, the company delivered strong double-digit growth in revenues across all regions and all key services, with improving margins driven by strong cost control, and expanding cash generation which is enabling continuous investment in network and services and expanding distribution, as well as strengthening her balance sheet and increasing returns to shareholders.
“We are connecting more customers in new and existing coverage areas and driving usage levels and ARPUs to new highs.
“We have successfully executed several strategic initiatives in the year, with tower sales completed in four countries, $550m of minority investments secured for our mobile money business and a successful buyout of minorities in our Nigerian operation. Our receipt last month of a full PSB licence in Nigeria will help us to accelerate financial inclusion in the territory and drive our mobile money business even faster.
“While the fundamentals of our six-pillar growth strategy remain unchanged, we are looking to accelerate our performance through a greater focus on digitalisation and we have underpinned our strategic pillars with our sustainability ambition.
“I am particularly proud of the progress we have made in articulating our sustainability strategy this year as well as the partnership we announced with UNICEF to help drive and support educational programmes in our territories. I very much look forward to us publishing both our pathway to net zero and our first full sustainability report later in the year.
“Turning to the outlook, long-term opportunities for us remain attractive. While mindful of currency devaluation and repatriation risks, we continue to work actively to mitigate all our material risks and to deliver value for all our stakeholders. There are increasing challenges from global inflationary pressures, but we continue to target revenue growth ahead of the market and moderate margin expansion.”


text: Apparently, the executives of Epitaph Records records are movin' on up. Recently, General Manager Dave Hansen was elected chairman of the board for Merlin, a "global digital rights agency for the world’s independent label sector." To that end, it appears that he has been moved to Senior Vice President of Business development at the label. That means the new general manager is Matt McGreevey, who has worked at the company for years, most recently as head of internet marketing. Meanwhile, the label's Hope Selevan has been appointed vice president of marketing and digital strategy. Selevan joined Epitaph/Anti- in 2015 from New West Records, where she served as director of marketing.


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Last week at CES, Windows RT-based tablets were virtually invisible. In fact, one of the more interesting devices we saw was the Asus VivoTab Smart, a 10-inch tablet running Windows 8, which will be available for about $500, the same price as the Surface RT and Asus' own RT-based VivoTab. Adding insult to injury, Samsung late last week announced that it's going to pass on RT, joining Acer, Toshiba and HP in the non-RT camp. Is this the end... Read more →


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Vista Outdoor’s chief executive officer Mark DeYoung explained the company’s fourth quarter results were a product of an “unprecedented decline in demand for ammunition and firearms” following November’s election.
According to Vista’s quarterly filing last month, the company reported a 5 percent decline in sales by March 31 and a 21 percent decline organically. Sales also dropped 11.5 percent from third quarter results, which covered the election as well as holiday shopping.
“We are experiencing unprecedented decline in demand for ammunition and firearms following the presidential election and softness in the retail environment. These impacts have manifested themselves in our results,” DeYoung said in a statement.
To address the softness, he said Vista will be expanding efforts to build a stronger presence among shoppers online and has plans to re-organize the company’s workforce and inventory.
Federal data shows national gun sales dropping 11.6 percent from January through March from the year before.
Vista owns dozens of brands that include Savage Arms and Stevens; big name ammo companies like Federal Premium, Speer, American Eagle; and more than 30 outdoor and shooting accessory companies.
Competitor Sturm, Ruger & Company reported results from the same timeframe that were only marginally different from last year, one of the biggest for gun sales. Yet, the company, which only makes guns, said it produced comparable results by creating a “promotionally charged environment” to move inventory and kept its stock price up by buying back 1.7 million shares.
Vista executives expect weak market conditions to continue, but eventually stabilize by the middle of next fiscal year.
The post Vista experienced ‘unprecedented decline’ in sales since election appeared first on Guns.com.


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BorgWarner Inc. plans to expand its U.S. manufacturing footprint to handle its fast-growing electrification business, which is expected to generate about $4 billion by 2025. The company took in $292 million in net earnings in the third quarter of this year, more than double from the same period last year, while revenue grew nearly 20 percent to $4 billion, according to its earnings report Thursday.
The company said it is making strides toward swapping out its internal combustion engine business for EV battery and component contracts. They anticipate their 2022 EV revenue will grow to approximately $850 million, more than double what it was in 2021, but still a small fraction of overall business. It aims to bring EV revenue to 45 percent of overall sales by 2030, up from less than 3 percent last year, according to its 2021 annual report.
CFO Kevin Nowlan said the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August with $370 billion in climate change investments, is motivating BorgWarner and many other automotive companies to expand operations in the U.S. “We think there’s a real opportunity for us to benefit from the IRA as we continue to invest and increase our capacity and manufacturing capability in the U.S.,” Nowlan said during a call with investors.
Lear Corp., which produces automotive electronic and seating systems, announced Thursday its plans to build a new EV parts plant, which its CEO Ray Scott said was spurred by the need to localize its supply chain. Battery startup Our Next Energy also said the IRA was a factor in setting up its $1.6 billion plant in Michigan. Magna announced more than $500 million in expansions, fueled largely by new EV business.


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It’s been six years since the last Fatal Frame game (two if you count the spin-off Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir), but Tecmo Koei is looking to reinvigorate the Fatal Frame franchise in a big way in Japan.
In addition to a brand new game for the Wii U, the company has a live-action movie in the works directed by Ring of Curse director Mari Asato. It is set to star Aoi Morikawa and Ayami Nakajo. The movie is planned for a fall release.
A Fatal Frame novel is being penned by Multiple Personality Detective Psycho and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service writer Eiji Otsuka. It will be released in August.
No release date has been given for the Fatal Frame manga, but we know that it will be done by Drops of God writer Shin Kibayashi and published by Kodansha.
Source: GematsuStevenNo comments
Ace Attorney series creator Shu Takumi mentioned that a new game in the series was in the works, and now the latest issue of Famitsu has information on the next Ace Attorney game coming to the 3DS. It will take place in the past during Japan’s Meiji period and have a new protagonist. Takumi will be directly involved with the project.
According to @CourtRecords_, the game is called Dai Gyakuten Saiban – Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken (Grand Turnabout Trial – The Adventures of Naruhodou Ryuunosuke). Presumably, the person shown in the magazine scan is an ancestor of Phoenix Wright.
Toadette, Nabbit and Rosalina are coming to Mario Golf: World Tour as paid DLC, along with six new courses.
The new content will be broken up into three packs and have a staggered release:
- The Mushroom Pack – May 2
- Contains two 18-hole courses and Toadette
- The Flower Pack – May
- Contains two 18-hole courses and Nabbit
- The Star Pack – June
- Contains two 18-hole courses and Rosalina
Each pack is priced at $5.99, but a Season Pass containing all three packs will be available at launch for $14.99. Season Pass holders will get each new pack as they come out and, as a bonus, they will get an additional character: Gold Mario.
Online Trial Tournaments will be available, giving players a chance to try out the DLC courses for free.
In the press release for the DLC announcement, Nintendo points out that Mario Golf: World Tour contains as many courses as previous games in the series – 10 courses with 126 holes. The DLC packs will add 6 more courses with 108 new holes on top of that.
Mario Golf: World Tour launches on May 2 in North America for $29.99.
Source: Press ReleaseNo comments
The application has been on an indefinite delay since last July/August and Nintendo hasn’t given an official statement explaining why.
Source: NeoGAFStevenNo comments
The latest trailer for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is filled with more than two-and-a-half minutes of monsters, hunting, and the hunting of monsters (there’s also a little bit of monsters hunting hunters).
The game hits Japan this fall, but it won’t be out in North America until early 2015.StevenNo comments
On April 21, 1989, the Game Boy launched in Japan.
The product of legendary game designer Gunpei Yokoi, the Game Boy encompassed his philosophy of “Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology.” Yokoi believed in the importance of gameplay over new technologies, that fun experiences could be crafted with older, more abundant and better understood hardware.
It was because of that non-reliance on cutting-edge tech that the Game Boy to win out over the more powerful handhelds of that generation, like the Game Gear, Lynx and TurboExpress.
The Game Boy may no longer be around in name, merely laying dormant until Nintendo decides to dust it off, but its spirit and philosophies continue to live on today in the DS and 3DS.
Happy birthday, Game Boy.StevenNo comments
Nintendo of America will be one of the sponsors at this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday.
With this year’s theme being “Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape.” Nintendo will have setups with Wii Fit U and Wii Sports Club to encourage people to get active. Mario and Luigi will also be at the White House to take pictures with attendees.
The Easter Egg Roll is an annual event held on the White House lawn every Easter Monday. The event has also been incorporated into the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, which looks to curb obesity and a promote healthier lifestyles.
Source: Press Release
Image: Whitehouse.govNo comments
— Vernon Schieck (@kitroplious) April 17, 2014
With Easter happening this Sunday, Nintendo is holding a Yoshi egg hunt in the eShop.
You won’t get anything for finding all the eggs, but it’s still fun to have something to look out for while browsing the eShop.
Source: @StevenNo comments